A Quick Trip to Penang

Traditionally, I would make a trip up to Penang each year before Ramadhan. To visit relatives or at least sample the food. This year I had another excuse, as one of my cousins was getting married.

We only stayed one night, with only Anita and I travelling. We stayed in Seberang Perai where the wedding was held. I only left KL after work, managing to reach the hotel before 10 pm.

I had a relaxing evening, enjoying a long breakfast the next morning as the wedding started only at noon. My Mum, sister and Aunt came to join us at the wedding hall soon after as they were staying in Sungai Petani and travelled separately.

My Mum coming with my brother-in-lawThe pelaminBunga telurThe wedding was nice and I got to meat plenty of my relatives. The topic of conversation was definitely politics. In fact, one of the local candidate turned up as he was a friend of my Uncle. After lunch and the bersanding, we decided to cross to Penang for some laksa and “sotong kangkung”.

Traffic was surprisingly light. Enjoued the food, brought some for my mother-in-law in KL as we would be leaving straight from Penang. We stayed at Padang Kota for the food, before setting of, reaching KL at around 9 pm.

One of my AuntExchanging contactsThe happy coupleWe decided to take the small Perodua instead as the MPV’s battery went dead before we left. The car was surprisingly light and relaxing to drive and despite taking our time and making a few stops, we still got back to KL in plenty of time.

We planned to spend Hari Raya in Penang, so staying just a single night was not a big deal. We got to meet everybody at the wedding anyway.

Return to Marche

Apparently it had been opened since third quarter of last year. Marche had returned. This time, it was at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. Right at the lower - First - floor.

We missed Marche. Since the branch at The Curve was closed nearly 5 years back, we were hoping it was a temporary closure. But there were no sign of it coming back. It used to be my late Father's favourite joint. He would love the steak there.

Irfan went for the pizzaCozy decorationsRelatively quietScoot! Scoot!This new outlet was half the size of the one at The Curve. The selection of good were also rather limited although they had a nice pizza oven and the grill selection. They don't use paper receipt anymore where we used to have it stamped at the counters when we order. Not, it was registered electronically onto a card.

When we ordered, we were also given a remote disc which would buzz when our orders were ready for collection. Clearly it had moved with the time.

The playground was still thereFresh fruit juicesNice wall panellingThe ever-popular grill counterHow was the food? Not bad. I wished that the workers there were all local. Getting the orders through could sometime be tricky. The place were also rather empty despite we were there on a Saturday evening. Maybe the location was pretty secluded, not to mention there were plenty of other outlets around the mall when it came to food.

There was an obvious price hike as well. I wouldn't call the place reasonably priced anymore. I was paying easily close to RM 100 per head on that outing. And I didn't even have a steak ...

Dessert anyone?Or maybe some crepes ....For the rosti ...Fresh bruschetta My children however loved the place. Organ loved the pizza. Idlan loved the sausages. The coffee and juices were really nice and fresh as well. We would definitely drop by again from time to time. But the limited selection of food as well as the steep price may proved to be put off once the novelty wore off ...

Menacing Weather

It hasn't been a good Monday. It started with heavy traffic heading to SJMC after dropping the boys at school. It was supposed to be my day off sorting out the conference coming later this week but it turned out to be a long morning session.

As I was preparing to head to KL Tower to settle some arrangements, Anita called to say that her cousin's wife passed away earlier this morning.

After settling my affair at the gower, I headed straight to PPUM just in time to avoid the heavy downpour. All the way to UMMC the sky looked menacing. I wonder what the weather would be like during the burial later ...

Manage to meet a few old friends while I was there before going back to SJMC for some review. By the time in was done for the day, I was actually quite tired. Had a nap before getting up again for more emails and letters. So much for a day off ...

Night Safari

It was a much-touted destination. The Night Safari at Singapore Zoo had garnered worldwide attention for their work in preservation as well as good experience all around.

In the last trip to Singapore, this proves to be the main event for the four of us.

Anita booked up a package which worked out great. This being a Saturday evening during the peak season meant that the place would be full. The package she booked included transfer from the hotel to the Zoo, entrance ticket as well as a priority tram ride - the best way to enjoy the park.

From the hotelOur guide, RobinAll badged upWithout the priority access, waiting time for the tram would be around 90 minutes. We got on ours in less than 5. Great value. The tram ride on the whole took about half an hour snaking along the various attractions in the zoo, almost a touching distance at some of the animals.

The place was hot however despite the ride starting after 8 pm. The lights were pretty dim and since flash was not allowed, snapping photos was almost impossible during the tram ride. Despite using my X-Pro with an f1.4 lens, the captures were still blurry with shakes. I should've brought my Alpha 7R with the 85 mm f1.4 instead. Well, originally we did plan to fly. I wanted to keep my gear to a minimal.

The queue for the tram was crazy!Unfortunately I wasn't able to snap muchThis one was relatively clearAfter the tram ride, we had the choice of either taking a shirt all down a designated path or went straight for dinner. We decided to do both.

The path only took us 15 minutes before Irfan complained of being hungry. Dinner then came at the food stalls there. Plenty of selection. You can also get a package with buffet dinner but we decided to give that a miss since we weren't sure if it was halal.

We did the trail after the tram, before settling for some dinnerThe return bus right was at 10 pm, and half an hour later we were back in the comfort of our room. Time for shower and some hot chocolate. I decided to have some sandwiches before bed.

All together the ride was expensive and novel. Not sure if it was worth doing it again but should I had the chance, I'd probably went straight along one of the 4 paths available. There were also animal shows if you decided against walking or taking the tram every hour at the main entrance.

Airport Adventure

As you would probably knew, we were in Singapore last weekend. The original plan was to fly there. Everything went smoothly until it was time to board the plane. Idlan had a panic attack and started screaming.

We ended up abandoning the plan to fly. But since we had booked our suite and the tickets for the Night Safari, I decided to drive all the way down there.

But first, I had to clear the immigration again to re-enter the airport and then went to claim our checked-in luggage which had to be removed from the belly of the aircraft.

That took almost a couple of hours. We then drove back yo Gombak to exchange the car. My C200 needed servicing and I wouldn't wasn't t take the risk of driving all the way to Singapore in it. That detour to change into our MPV wasted another hour and a half. We finally set off from KL close to 10 pm.

I had to make a couple of nap stops - once in Ayer Keroh and another in Machap. We finally reached out hotel room at 5 am, having a quick supper - or should I say early breakfast - before I took a longer nap. It was before noon when I finally woke up, in time to take Idlan out for lunch.

Then another nap after lunch.

Our transport for the Zoo was due at 6.15. I managed a couple of hours of walking around Orchard Road before we departed - and learn the awesome power of the GoPro.

Then came the trip to the zoo before having a nice KL g breakfast the next morning before we set off again back home to Kuala Lumpur. More tiring than I bargained for but at least we did our traveling.

We still need to sort out Idlan's fear of flying. We thought that he would be OK. We were more worried about Anita. In July, Idlan has a school trip to Chiangmai arranged. Not sure if he would be able to deal with that trip ...